Spark of Fate
by Letale
Summary: He decided that it was time to keep his promise. She has decided that its no longer worth keeping.


_**Thanks**_ _to all the wonderful reviews that I have received! Each of them is appreciated, and all of the support is cherished. Many of the reviewers said that they were touched by my writing, and to me that is more than I could have ever hoped for! It made me very happy to hear that my words could bring out such emotions in others. As a result of this, and thank you to more support from the reviewers, I have decided to pursue the idea to write a continuation of this fic._

_The first step for me is to rewrite this one-shot/prologue. I feel that it needs to be redone in a longer and better edited format. Please bear with me, as it does follow the same flow as the original, just with a few tweaks here and there. For those who read the original and plan to read this version, thank you. For those who are first time readers, enjoy._

_Reviews are appreciated, and the spot for a beta-reader is still open. If you are interested, please send me some form of message by review, private message, email, or any other way you can think of to contact me._

_Just an answer to a question that I received. The kanji that I use to represent breaks is the kanji for love 'ai'. It is also the same kanji that appears on the forehead of Sabaku no Gaara. Just what role this kanji truly plays in this fiction is something that I plan on keeping to myself for now, but you can all feel free to guess at. And thank you for pointing out my mistake._

_**Special thanks to:**__ AngelAriel, Suffocated With Cheese, gare de lyon – ROAR, Michi P. and suzako. Your support helped make this happen!_

_Enjoy, sayonara._

愛

Her heart began to pound as she approached the gate. She tried to keep her breathing slow and steady as her footsteps drew her closer to the large wooden doors. She didn't want to think about what had brought her here. She didn't want to think about one of her deepest and darkest fears becoming a reality. She decided instead to study the piece of artwork displayed before her, the large doors wrought through with iron work. Her gaze followed the intricate patterns, all swirling towards the center to form the elaborate circle surrounding the kanji for fire.

Her eyes were captivated by the simple symbol, tracing the strokes that made up its form. Her mind all the while worked, reminding her of just whom fire represented.

Fire was for Sasuke, the raw form of his clans signature jutsus, the Katon series. She remembered the first time she witnessed the beauty that was his jutsu. She admired the way his hand-signs had been so smooth and graceful, uninhibited by the severity of the situation. It seemed like only a brief second before his slender fingers had been pinched together just a few short millimeters before his lips, and the surging fireball of chakra that had followed.

Sasuke had always been slender.

She shook her head to rid herself of thoughts of him, of the desperate memories that she had clutched for so long. She was at last moving on, and she wouldn't allow herself to be pulled back by memories of someone she had only ever thought to be noble and heroic. That of course had been her estrogen enhanced teenage thinking.

Some hero he turned out to be.

Fire was also for Naruto, just the thought caused an upward tugging at the corner of her lips. Fire was his personality, the light that shone behind his sapphire eyes. His obsession was the Konohagakure of the Fire nation, and his supreme goal had always been to become its leader. Even when the odds were stacked against him, Naruto always roared back to life in a flame of glory. So much like a true flame, she thought, even when no more than a mere spark, it could always find the strength to return.

Fire was of course many other people in her life, such as her sensei and her fiery temperament, but she always thought that fire belonged to nobody else like it belonged to Naruto.

Was it mere coincidence that Naruto was a user of wind type jutsus? Was it a coincidence that his chakra fed fire, just like his memories fed the fire in his soul that pushed him to always give his best?

These were things that Sakura thought of when she was left to her own meddling. It was her unconscious attempt to unlock the mysteries of the universe it seemed. She was broken off from her thoughts the moment her back met the cool surface of the large gates. Suddenly her only focus was the road that lay before her, the very road on which the hokage building sat, and the faces of previous hokages stared down.

It was with a bitter thought that she realized that if she didn't stop him, his face might never adorn that of the rough rocks, that he may never stare down the street at her. She pressed her lips together in sad determination, and she waited.

愛

"Sakura?"

A gentle voice startled her out of a dreamless sleep. She blinked her eyes, trying to rid herself of the fuzzy vision of her friend that stood before her.

They stood there like that for a few moments. Naruto with his shining blue eyes stared the few inches down to meet her dazed emerald eyed gaze. He broke the stare as his blue eyes saddened suddenly, not wanting to stare into her eyes anymore.

"You don't need to cry anymore," he whispered.

She tried desperately to find the words that she had planned on telling him. She wanted so desperately to communicate the wishings of her own heart to him, but she seemed unable to grasp onto the script that she had so carefully planned. It seemed like he stood there waiting, inviting her to protest his plans, but before she was able to compose herself, he had already pushed a small opening in the gate, and was silently walking into the darkened forest.

She broke out of her shock induced amnesia as she pounded the thought that this was her last chance deep into her brain, forcing herself to act quickly. Before she knew it, she was out of the gate, suddenly outside of the village she called home.

Her feet were taking her as fast as possible, as she fought hard to catch up with him before it was too late and she lost sight of him forever.

"Naruto!"

Her voice seemed so small and empty in the darkness. She cursed herself for her emotional weakness and summoned the strength to call out again.

"Don't go!"

Her shout resounded through the forest.

"Don't go!"

She screamed again before she added in a small, trembling voice, "Please."

Suddenly he was before her, gracing her with the sight of his stiffened back. It was only then that she realized that he had indeed heard her, and that the sound of her voice had stopped him in his tracks. This brought her renewed confidence, and for the first time that night, she thought that maybe she could stop him after all.

愛

His features hardened as her cold fingers wrapped themselves around his wrist, seeking to entangle themselves with his own.

"Is that what you said to _him_?"

His voice sounded accusatory, more so than the gentle coldness that he had intended. His eyes narrowed as he reformed his resolved and sought to pull away from her. It was obvious then that she had no intention on letting him go, as her grip on his wrist increased in pressure. She attempted to tug him back to her, but his unwillingness to move back towards her body seemed to be only more solid proof that this wasn't a joke, that he planned to go through with leaving her.

"You… you don't need to do this," she choked out, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

He was out of her grip suddenly, having tugged his arm hard enough to break free of her desperate grasp. He wheeled around to face her, his face like a stone mask, but his eyes revealing the anguish that he too was dealing with.

"I have too," came the harsh whisper.

Suddenly he had pulled her to his chest with a rough tug on her forearm.

"I have too because you made me promise to."

She choked back a sob, as the realization that all of this nights events had been because of the stupid decisions that she had made as a young teenager. His eyes softened as he witnessed a tear slide down her cheek, and his hold became tender and loving. He stroked his hand through the strands of her hair, and his other hand had found the small of her back, petting there lovingly.

"You don't have to," she gasped out between sobs, "That promise would mean nothing if you were to-"

"If I were to die?"

She looked up at him after a tentative moment of thought. He was gazing up at the sky, his eyes catching and reflecting the moonlight, almost making them appear a steel blue colour. A midnight breeze caught a few strands of his hair, and she could only stare transfixed as they seemed to dance a sorrowful dance.

"I can't loose you too."

Her voice was firm, and held no finality. He chuckled as he was given a glimpse of the Sakura that he wanted to see, the battle-strong woman who had suddenly been replaced with a girl gripped by sad emotion the moment she had learned of his intentions.

A calloused hand reached up to stroke her cheek, catching the moisture there.

"Are you really so hopeless now?"

She ignored his question, and suppressed more tears as his eyes captured hers once again in a saddened twist of fate.

"That promise you made, you made a long time ago. And to an emotionally selfish young girl."

"I made a choice too."

She tried desperately to find the words that would convince him. Surely somewhere there was something that she could use as leverage, something that she knew he would never give up.

"What about your choice to become hokage?"

His lips turned upward in a slight smile. It seemed that she had picked the right words, and she too almost felt like smiling, until his lips parted to speak again.

"That was a choice I made when I was an emotionally selfish young boy."

She couldn't help but feel crestfallen. The one dream he had pursued endlessly until this moment seemed to have no grip on him any longer. His eyes flickered about her face as he witnessed the myriad of emotions that crossed it. _Depression, hopelessness, sorrow_.

"Did I do this to you?"

It was a question that was to be left unanswered, because he had no answer that he felt would suffice. Instead, he opted to meet with her, as his lips pressed lightly to her own. He didn't expect her to press back up against him, and he pulled away quickly, not wanting to take anything any further.

"It was _him_," he decided.

The words didn't hold any comfort in them, but instead she decided, there was truth. She tried her best to suppress the sudden rage that gripped her heart then. This rage came with the knowledge and firm memory that he had not only captured and thrown out her heart, but also that of her best and only friend throughout this entire ordeal.

"Don't go," she whispered to him again, softly but firmly.

He shook his head and gently pushed her from him.

"I have to," he paused before adding, "You don't understand."

"So explain!"

He winced at the force and loudness of her voice. She was growing desperate, that was something that both of them could understand. But how could he possibly explain to her without seeming like nothing more than a selfish man?

How could he explain to her that he wouldn't be able to bear the scar of the empty Uchiha compound on the village that he was determined to rule? How could she possibly understand that the hateful glares of the council, and the citizens themselves would tear him apart? To know that they all believed him a failure for the simple reason that he could not bring back who they believed should be the rightful Hokage.

He wasn't fit to be Hokage if he failed a mission, and what mission was more important than the mission he had sworn to her so many years ago? Even if they had only been pre-teens then, it was as important to him now as it had been to her back then.

Her body was suddenly on his, pressing up against him so firmly that he could feel every swell and curve of her body. It wasn't just for him, it was for both of them. For the future that he knew she still dreamed of, the future where there was no more conflict between them and their former comrade. The future where they were all still together, united. In his heart, he knew that it was a future worth fighting for.

"I can't come?" She pleaded as he nuzzled into the top of her head.

"No," he mumbled in reply, "You still need to train with baa-chan."

He felt her frown, knowing that she once again believed that she was being left behind because she was too weak to be of any use. He shook his head.

"Not because of that, but because you'll need to heal him when I drag him back through these gates."

She smiled slightly at the confidence she heard in his voice, the confidence that had given her hope once.

"What will I do with out you?"

"You'll know what to do."

She smiled sadly against his shoulder. There wasn't a confirmation that he would return like she so desperately hoped for. She knew what he was thinking, that he wouldn't ever be walking back through the gates. She knew that he had come to terms with the idea that if Sasuke didn't finish him off, Akatsuki surely would.

They stood together for a few moments longer, neither one wanting to relinquish the heat that they had found, yet both knowing that it was inevitable. With bitter irony, Sakura realized that they were now standing together on the path that both of her comrades would take, but one that she would never be able to follow.

She stared up at him as he let her go and took a few steps backwards. She knew what she had to do now, it seemed so clear to her. She would do what she could to buy him time, distract the ANBU, lie to the Hokage, whatever it took no matter what the cost. He smiled a bright smile back at her, knowing that she would never betray him.

And suddenly it was all over.

愛

She awoke the next morning, but instead of feeling the sorrow that she had planned for the night before, she felt strangely refreshed and renewed. She set about her daily tasks with pride, and sipped her tea and her broth without fail.

It was a few hours later that she was summoned by her master. No doubt to inquire about the whereabouts of her teammate, and why half of her ANBU had been sent out on a dead-end mission in the early hours of the morning.

She smiled politely to the messenger as she swore that she would be there as soon as possible.

愛

It wasn't until two years later that she would discover the protector. It would be on a simple mission just outside of the Wind country. She would be guiding a young group of medic ninjas from the Water nation to Sunagakure. And she would scream, and she would cry up to the empty blue sky as she clutched onto the bloodied and scarred piece of metal, and the single piece of orange cloth that accompanied it.

愛

_Owari_


End file.
